CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new
type of personalized cancer therapy in which immune
cells are harvested from patients' tumors, grown in the
lab and infused back into patients showed dramatic
results in a small, government-led trial in women with
advanced cervical cancer, U.S. researchers said on
Monday.

Two women in the study who had tumors that had spread throughout
their bodies had a complete remission of their cancers after a
single treatment, according to the study presented at the American
College of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

The trial by researchers at the National Cancer Institute is the
first to show that this promising new technology known as adoptive T
cell therapy can have an impact in solid tumors, said Dr Renier
Brentjens, director of cellular therapeutics at Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study.

The approach attempts to take advantage of the body's own T cells —
infection-fighting white blood cells that recognize and mount an
attack on harmful invaders such as viruses and cancer. Researchers
at Memorial Sloan Kettering have already shown dramatic results in
blood cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

"This is yet another example of a successful application of adoptive
T cell immunotherapy, now in the realm of solid tumors, such as
cervical cancers," Brentjens said. "We're starting to see that T
cells, if properly targeted, can eradicate incurable metastatic
cancers."

In this early-stage trial, researchers studied nine women with
metastatic cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV)
in whom there are currently few treatment options.

For the therapy, researchers essentially beefed up the patients' own
weak immune responses to the cancer by removing T cells that
recognize two HPV-related proteins known as E6 and E7. The team then
grew up batches of these HPV-targeting immune cells and returned
them to the patients to fight the cancer.

Of the nine women tested, three responded. One had a partial
response in which the tumor shrank by nearly 40 percent and two
patients had complete remission of their cancers that lasted for 11
months in one patient and 18 months in the other.

"What this means is on a very specific level is patients that have
otherwise metastatic cervical cancer now have a treatment option
that may in about a third of cases provide them with durable disease
response," Brentjens said.

Tinkering with the immune system in this way caused some serious
side effects, however, including low blood counts and infections,
but the findings are promising enough to expand the trial to more
patients, the team said.

Study leader Dr Christian Hinrichs of the National Cancer Institute
said this so-called "proof-of-principal" study shows the
experimental technology "can cause complete remission of metastatic
cervical cancer and that this remission can be long-lasting."

He said the findings suggest that this area of research known as
cellular therapy might be used in a broader range of tumors than
previously thought.